Period 3
by Crazy Sheepies
Summary: Post GF-- Things have been settled for a while after the ZoidEve incident. But now, with someone set out with an evil plot to assassinate Rudolf, Van and the gang (with some new characters) could be in over their heads... V/OC R+R!
1. Chapter One

  
A/N from gingitsune's muse: Hiya! Here's the collab fic that my friend and I have been toiling on; I hope you like it. And for all of those who were wondering, Hikari is my character based on my personality and yes, she is in my other fic "A Dawn of a New Eve." Enjoi!   
  
A/N from gamegurl mirai: Hey! *wave wave* my character is Lapis, also based on my beautiful self. ^^ Um... I don't know what else to put here, so have fun reading! (Enjoi sounds like a coke commercial bite-off! :x )   
  
  
A shooting star flashed across the night sky. A horde of crickets chirped in chorus at the sight. It seemed like just another peaceful night on the planet Zi...The sound of a Storm Sworder echoed through the barren wasteland. It swerved back around and put out its landing gear near a small abandoned warehouse. 

A pilot clad in black leapt out of the cockpit and looked around before pushing the rusty door open and venturing into the shadows.   


"So, you're finally here. It's about time," said a mysterious voice. Lights flickered on and shone down upon a shady man sitting at a desk. "Do you have them? Or did I waste my money giving you that Storm Sworder?"   


"I brought them," the other man replied. He produced a yellow envelope from within his layers of clothing and threw it onto the desk. A gloved hand snatched up the envelope and ripped it open.   


"Ah yes, this is exactly what I wanted. Excellent work," the man laughed. He sifted through a stack of photographs of Guygalos and the emperor Rudolph. A sinister grin crawled across his face. "This is the beginning of the end..."   


  
******************************************************************************   


  
"So, this is the place," Van mused as he glanced at a slip of paper. Zeke growled in reply. He glanced up at the tall hanger that stood before him. It was painted a dull green and in certain areas, the paint was beginning to wear out.   


"Anyone here?" he shouted as he entered. A white Command Wolf loomed beside him to the left and an extra crispy Molga was to his right. High above his head was a mysterious looking Zoid, which resembled a cross between a Pteras and a Reddler. Suddenly, a head popped out of the charred Molga.   


"Whatcha need?" the owner asked. It was a young girl with short medium brown hair held in two pigtails at the sides of her head. Several wisps of bangs swept across her icy sapphire eyes. Her face was covered in some black sooty-like substance, through which a yellow star on her right check could barely be seen. She wore an equally sooted uniform, with short sleeves and didn't look much younger than Van. Pinned onto her shirt was a name tag reading "Lapis Lazuli".   


"Hey there Lah-peez," Van stuttered as he attempted to read her name tag. "I was sent here-"   


"It's LAPIS!!" she cut off, glaring.   


"OK, calm down. Anyways, I was sent here by the guardian force because we need some assistance in Zoid repair," he laughed.   


"Yea right. There's another reason behind it, I'm sure. It's not everyday the army comes waltzing in here asking for my help, let alone thinking they can AFFORD my help," she laughed as she propped her elbow onto the Zoid.   


"We're actually looking for a mercenary; goes by the name of Hikari. We have information that you have been seen traveling with her. Is this true?"   


"So what if I have? You'll never catch her!" With that she was lost in a fit of maniacal laughter. "MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"   


"Chill out! She apparently has an unregistered organoid. Plus, our ancient Zoid recovery specialist would like to have a look at it as well."   


"It's not nice to call people 'ancient'," Lapis commented, smirking.   


"That's, not what I meant!" Van replied, hesitantly thinking of a way to rephrase his last sentence as Lapis attempted to hop out of the burned Zoid.   


She screamed as she fell, scaring Van and Zeke stiff for a moment. Lapis sat up from her rough landing. "Owwwww."   


"Not very graceful, are you?" Van grinned as he reached a hand out to help her up.   


"Let's just say I'm not very athletic," Lapis smiled nervously, rubbing the back of her head as she accepted Van's offer. She stood almost exactly Van's height. "So, um, what's yer names?"   


"I'm Van Fleiheight, and this is my pal Zeke."   


"Oh! I've heard of you guys before!" Lapis hopped up and down excitedly.   


"Y-you have?" Van cocked an eyebrow. Zeke also looked puzzled.   


"Of course! But anyways, I think Kari's around here somewhere. I forget; she can get a little restless, so she ends up wandering off," the girl began mumbling as she led the two further into the hanger, strewn with Zoids and a huge workbench, desk, computers , numerous things, and boxes of Zoid parts everywhere.   


Van and Zeke awed at the modified Zoids, unlike any other they had seen. "You built these?" Van asked exasperatedly, gazing at the metallic creatures as if he were a kid in a candy store.   


"Yep! I am a genius you know," Lapis laughed haughtily. "These are special orders X-522-1A and B, as requested by Major Schubaltz about, two weeks ago. Almost complete too," she explained, pointing to two Rev Raptors, cloaked in shadows.   


"You work for the Guardian Force?" Van asked.   


"Technically, yes. Who do you think comes up with all the upgrades n' stuff? Sometimes I work at HQ, but mostly I work here," Lapis explained, mentioning something about how hard it was to transfer databases until she was interrupted shortly.   


A grassy green colored organoid with glistening yellow eyes appeared at Lapis' side. This organoid was different, however. It had the form of a kangaroo, with a pouch, big ears, big feet.. typical kangaroo stuff. The organoid made a sharp growl as means of communication.   


"Oh, hey Joey," Lapis greeted the organoid, a head taller than herself, with a pat on its head.   


"Is this Hikari's organoid?" Van ventured to ask, puzzled.   


Lapis shook her head. "Nope, Joey's my organoid," she replied, then turned to Joey. "These guys are from HQ. They need to register Kari's organoid and have someone look at it too."   


Joey cocked its head and growled something.   


"Oh, that's right. Van, Joey's not registered either," Lapis smiled.   


Van pulled out the slip of paper again and scrutinized it for a moment. "It doesn't say anything about two organoids; you should have said something."   


"I just did!"   


Van smacked his forehead. "No, I meant BEFORE," he spelled out.   


"You never asked," Lapis replied.   


"Well I guess I can't beat THAT logic," Van frowned.   


So now Van, Zeke, and Joey all followed Lapis to the end of the hangar, where it met with a house. Lapis opened the door, revealing a living room, with a couch, coffee table, and big rug. A hallway was off towards the back, probably leading off to other rooms. A girl was lying on the couch and an organoid was curled up into a ball on the rug. The girl was busy reading a book on "The Art of Zoid Battles". She wore a blue baseball shirt and her dark brown hair hung down with droplets of water clinging to them. Her eyes were almost as dark as her hair.   


"Just as I thought!" Lapis crossed her arms across her chest, as if she had just discovered a criminal, as everyone else filed in. "So Van, you go on and explain everything, while I go wash off this soot."   


"Yeah, you're pretty dirty," Van said as she headed towards the hallway.   


"I'm even prettier when I'm CLEAN," Lapis giggled, causing Van to blush.   


"What are you grinning at Lapis?" Hikari smirked as she watched her friend walk towards the bathroom, Lapis's face turning an odd shade of red. She shut her book and thrust her hand out towards Van. "I'm Hikari, pleased to meet you!" she smiled.   


"I'm Van and I'm with the Guardian Force. I was sent here because of reports of your organoid," Van began.   


"Wake up Hakuu!" Hikari growled as she kicked the sleeping organoid. "Mind your manners! We have guests!"   


The organoid growled sleepily as he rose to his feet. He blinked and stared at Van and Zeke with ice blue eyes. Van let out a gasp, for Hakuu was the mirror image of the organoid Shadow, except Hakuu was white.   


"Where did you find him?" he asked, becoming serious.   


"The Ancra ruins, just north of here," she replied.   


"But isn't that ruin flooded and unsafe to enter?"   


"Nothing can stop this explorer!" she laughed. "I borrowed one of Lapis' Sinker prototypes when she was asleep one night and found a way in," she whispered.   


"Have you ever heard of another organoid named Shadow?" Van asked suddenly.   


"Nope. Why?"   


"Just wondering. Anyways, would you and Lapis mind coming to the Guardian Force headquarters? Our specialist on ancient Zoids would like to have a look at Hakuu and Joey," Van explained, careful not to make the "ancient" mistake again.   


"Sure, whatever. I'm kind of in the mood for a little trip," Hikari replied with a shrug of her shoulders. 

"Hurry up Lapis!" she called in the direction of the hallway in a loud manner.   


"Hold up; have some patience! Geez!" came an echoing reply, most likely from the bathroom.   


"Why don't you have some SPEED?!" Hikari responded irritably.   


Van sighed in impatience as the two argued from a distance. He leaned on Zeke for a few moments as the verbal assault continued.   


"Get out NOW, or I'm going to bust in there myself and-"   


The sound of a door opening could be heard, followed by more sounds of a person running about in another room, rummaging through drawers and things and also an odd clunking down the hallway, back into the main room. Lapis reappeared, clean and hopping on one foot, trying to get a boot on the other foot. She wore a clean uniform, similar to the one Van wore. Her hair was now down, the jagged edges and layers touching her shoulders. "Aack, you're so MEAN," Lapis whined frustratedly.   


"Can we just go now? I wanna get this over with," Hikari frowned as she turned towards the door, Hakuu close at her heels with a robotic "chok chok chok". Van, however, seemed zoned out. Lapis was right; she does look prettier when she's clean.   


"Shall we?" Lapis asked Van as Hikari was walking out of the door, along with Hakuu.   


"What?" Van snapped out of his musing, almost falling off Zeke's support. He blinked himself awake.   


"Chop chop!" Lapis exclaimed as she pushed Van and Zeke out of the door. Joey hopped along after her in silent obedience.   


Hikari and Hakuu were already outside, waiting. They stood in silence, surveying Van's Liger in the broad sunlight, mirroring the blue sky on its polished surface.   


"Nice Zoid," Hikari commented as everyone else had caught up.   


"Thanks," Van accepted the compliment proudly.   


"Oh! That's a Blade Liger, huh?!" Lapis asked excitedly. "It's so gorgeous!"   


"Well, Zeke and I keep it in good shape and since we're such good fighters, the Liger's always in top condition!" Van bragged.   


"Oh, a little conceited, are we?" Hikari mocked as she walked over to the green Gustav. "Hakuu will test your Zoid's strength in a REAL fight when we're done with this registration."   


  
***************************************************************************************   


  
The base was as busy as always, even though there were no more wars. But despite this, there was always some mission or training exercise to be done. Soldiers mingled amongst other soldiers, their uniforms serving the purpose of making it hard to distinguish an individual from a distance.   


Van led everyone into the base, through a hangar and into a fairly large building, almost getting himself lost along the way as familiar faces waved their greetings. They all eventually ended up in a room where Dr. D and Fiona were tinkering away on computers. Dr. D spun around in his chair to greet them. "So, you finally brought them back."   


"I was only gone TWENTY minutes!" Van shouted in protest.   


"Well, when you get to be as old as me, you won't know how long you have left," he shrugged as he stood up to examine Hakuu. "Very interesting," he pondered. His gaze suddenly shifted to Joey. "What in the world?!"   


"This is Joey; I made him," Lapis laughed proudly.   


"How did you make him?" Dr. D asked as he pulled out paper and a pen.   


"Well, first I studied Hakuu's basic structure and behavior for quite some time," Lapis began, crossing her arms as she recalled the process. "Zoids and organoids are actually quite similar, so I used scrap Zoid parts and things to create Joey's structure."   


"But, why a kangaroo?" Dr. D ventured to ask.   


Lapis smiled and shrugged. "Why NOT? I bet no one else has a kangaroo organoid! Anyways, organoids function on cores also similar to those of Zoids, so with some heavy modification, (which took several weeks by the way) Joey was fully built and ready to go! However, there was one problem, at first," Lapis paused. "Something went wrong. Joey wasn't booting up. I got very frustrated that day."   


"So how did you get Joey to respond?" Dr. D asked curiously.   


"Accidental electrical shock from a high-voltage battery unit."   


"That explains why she's so insane," Hikari commented, interrupting Lapis's tirade. Joey and Hakuu growled in agreement.   


"You mean there wasn't something wrong with her BEFORE?" Van asked with an evil grin growing on his face as Kari stood corrected. Lapis glared menacingly as Dr. D finished his notes.   


"Van! I'm so glad you're back!" Fiona suddenly exclaimed cheerfully as she jumped on him. Lapis glared at the ancient Zoidian as she hugged Van.   


"H-hi Fiona," Van began. He tried hard not to glance at Lapis as he greeted Fiona with a smile.   


"Are we done yet? The super-genius must return to Uncle Karl's project..." Lapis gritted her teeth, trying to mask her anger.   


"Almost," Fiona said sitting back down at a computer, pecking away rapidly at the keys. "What are your names?" she asked after a short pause of inputting data.   


"Hakari Takenouchi and Hakuu."   


"Lapis Lazuli Gabelle and of course, Joey."   


Fiona proceeded to gather more information about Hakuu's origins and just as she was finishing off the last of the data.   


There was a sudden loud voice over the loudspeaker. "All Guardian Force members, please report to the main briefing room immediately. I repeat, all Guardian Force members please report the main briefing room immediately," the voice boomed.   


"Looks like there's more work to be done," Van sighed.   


"Come on Kari!" Lapis grinned as she pulled Hikari with her as she followed Van out the door.   


"Do I have to? I was just getting to the good part in my book," Hikari whined.   


  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~   


  
Ok, that's all for now!   
Please R and R for us! We love u! :3 


	2. Chapter Two

Gamegurl mirai: YAY! Chapter 2! It took us quite a long time to post. ermm. write this. like 3 months. *is a procrastinator* hope you all like it! XD  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The briefing room was slowly filling up with members, most of them wearing identical uniforms. Van pulled up to the front of the room, right by Colonel Kruger. Fiona, Lapis, and Hikari all stood by him as well, and they watched as a large screen flickered into visibility in front of them.  
  
"We have received word from Guygalos, that something has happened to the emperor," Colonel Kruger declared. The room was filled with the sound of whispers as members conversed with one another.  
  
Van said nothing, intent on listening, as Rudolf's face appeared on the screen. "Do you read me Colonel Kruger?" Rudolf said on the screen.  
  
"Loud and clear!" Kruger yelled back with a salute.  
  
Rudolf cleared his throat and then began again. "Last night, the wall surrounding my castle was breached by two mysterious black Zoids," Rudolf stated. Detailed sketches of the suspected Zoids appeared on screen. Lapis shuffled her feet nervously as she stared at the images.  
  
"Hey! Aren't those yours!?" Hikari exclaimed suddenly. Lapis silenced her with her clipboard and then laughed nervously to the others.  
  
"We have reason to believe these terrorists will return to the scene of the crime. Their reasons however, are unknown," Rudolf continued. "For they fled after a large group of bodyguards managed to fight them off."  
  
"I've decided to assign some members of the Guardian Force to remain here at my castle and keep guard in case these terrorists return."  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
"Paging Van Flyheight," a voice over the PA system boomed, causing Van to jump up from his desk. "Please report to Colonel Kruger's office immediately." Van took off running towards the office, apologizing for objects he overturned in his path.  
  
"What's going on?" Van panted as he stumbled into the room.  
  
"Late as usual," Lapis laughed as she spun around in her chair.  
  
"What do you mean 'late'?"  
  
"We couldn't find you, so we had to page you over the PA system," Kruger explained. "Sit down."  
  
Van reluctantly took a seat in between Hikari and Thomas in front of Kruger's desk. "Anyways, you four have been chosen to protect the emperor at his castle."  
  
"Wait, how can I be 'chosen' if I'm not even apart of the Guardian Force?" Hikari asked suspiciously. "I'm out," she said as she got up to leave.  
  
"In that case," Kruger smiled as he ripped a check out of his checkbook. Hikari spun around at the sound of a pen scratching against the paper. "Will this do?" he said as he held it out to Hikari.  
  
"Now you're talking!" she grinned as she snatched the check from his hand and sat back down. She began to stare monotonously at the check with starry eyes as Kruger continued.  
  
"As I was saying, you four are to head out to the emperor's castle immediately. Radio back to the base if you need backup, but I'm sure you four can handle yourselves," Kruger instructed as he shuffled around more papers. "That is all. Now get out of my office!"  
  
The four got up from their seats and silently filed out of the room. "He needs to get his arms waxed," Hikari whispered to Lapis as the doors shut behind them.  
  
**************************************************************************** ******  
  
"It's too bad Fiona couldn't come along with us," Thomas said wistfully as he and Van loaded their Zoids. They were supposed to meet Lapis and Hikari back at Lapis's workshop and leave from there.  
  
"Oh, shut it, Thomas," Van mumbled as he shoved a large duffel bag in the small cargo hull in the back of the cockpit. "That's the last of it. Ready to go?" he asked Thomas and Zeke, who had been waiting quietly the whole time unlike Thomas.  
  
Thomas was about to answer when he was interrupted.  
  
"You're not going to leave without me, are you?" Fiona asked, looking cheery and holding her own bag of luggage.  
  
"Of course not," Van said uneasily. With a weak smile he took Fiona's bag and stuffed it into the cargo as well.  
  
Once Fiona was in the cockpit behind Van, they headed out towards Lapis's workshop which was only a short trek away. The journey seemed shorter to Van, since he had already been there.  
  
The two girls, along with their organoids, were waiting outside the workshop standing next to their Zoids. Kari owned a strange, Doberman-type Zoid in a shiny black exterior and Lapis had a midnight blue Shadow Fox. They waved as they noticed the Liger and Dibison approaching.  
  
The two girls had changed their clothes from before, they noticed. Lapis wore a loose blue jumpsuit-like garb over a short green kimono, lined with red, and her waist was wrapped in a yellow obi. She also wore long tan boots with a small design on the sides, long brown gloves with odd, squarish metal wings on the outer edge, and a thick, yet loose, red belt hanging off her waist.  
  
Kari's brown hair hung down to her shoulders with auburn highlights shining in the sun. She wore a brown one-piece outfit which ended in shorts with buckles on the cuffs. The cuffs of her short-sleeved shirt which hung off the shoulders were also the same goldenrod color. A red sash was tied around her waist, the ends hanging down to the backs of her knees. Her boots were open in the back, where white fabric was wrapped around her shins. Similar to Lapis's, Kari's gloves were brown and went up to her fingers, which were not covered, yet they lacked the metal wings on the outer edge. A red bandanna tied loosely around her neck topped off her apparel.  
  
Van and Thomas brought their Zoids to a stop, Zeke following suit. Van, Fiona and Thomas all hopped out to meet Lapis and Kari on the ground.  
  
"Took ya long enough," Kari smirked.  
  
Van rolled his eyes as he tried to ignore her. "Yeah, well, this is-"  
  
"Thomas!" Lapis cut in quickly. "Yeah, we know."  
  
"Ready to go, then?" Thomas asked impatiently.  
  
Kari nodded in response, stretching to loosen up her arms from waiting as Haku and Joey growled their own replies.  
  
"I need help with my suitcase," Lapis stated, pointing to a fairly large, slightly worn brown suitcase at her side. It was bulging from its contents a bit.  
  
Thomas coughed loudly and began striding off. "I'll just be in my Dibison. waiting."  
  
Lapis shot a glare at his retreating back, then turned to Van and smiled pleadingly.  
  
"Sure. why not." Van sighed as he bent to pick it up. It was heavier than it looked. He strained as hard as he could, and lifted it only about a few inches from the ground. "This. weighs a ton! What do you have in here?!"  
  
"Just stuff. Come on, I need to get it in the storage hull behind the cockpit." Lapis said cheerfully as Van whimpered in pain.  
  
Fiona and Kari watched for a few moments, stifling laughter. It was a good while before Van managed to finish, and he returned quite exhausted.  
  
At long last, they finally set off to Guygalos. The journey would take a few days, depending on several factors.  
  
One hour into travel, the sun was shining brightly overhead; it was noon. And that meant only one thing.  
  
"I'm hungry!" Kari, Lapis, and Van chorused at once, clutching empty bellies as they slumped in their seats. At the moment they were in a desert, surrounded by sand, sand, and more sand, with the occasional clump of bush here and there. The group stopped to eat in a nice little area of. sand. and arranged the Zoids neatly in a circle, as to shade everyone from the beating sun.  
  
Fiona was elected to cook. They all waited patiently as Fiona rummaged through their cargo looking for food, sitting around a pot placed on a mini stove.  
  
"I have some good news and some bad news," she began. "The good news was I was going to make some delicious stew," she continued, the same blissfully unaware smile on her face.  
  
"What's the bad news?" Van asked.  
  
"We're out of food!"  
  
Everyone fell over in exasperation.  
  
"I knew I forgot something..." Fiona mumbled.  
  
"I'm gonna dieeeeeeeeeee.." Lapis cried. "I can't die! I'm too beautiful!!"  
  
"Now what are we going to do?" moaned Thomas.  
  
"Well, we can't eat organoids..." Kari muttered, her eyes straying to the frightened-looking organoids now hiding behind the Blade Liger. "Let's eat Lapis!" she laughed.  
  
"Are you nuts?! Karl would kill me!" Thomas exclaimed, nearly jumping up in intense vexation. Lapis wasn't too thrilled at Kari's idea, either.  
  
".Am I missing something?" Van asked, blinking, but no one seemed to hear him.  
  
"Geez, I was kidding!" Kari said, flapping a hand in the air.  
  
"Well, I guess we have to skip lunch," Fiona interrupted, smiling as she put things away. She loves smiling.  
  
"Skip. Lunch." Lapis sobbed, crying as if the world was doomed. "Noooooooooo.."  
  
"We should be able to stock up in Chrono Town, though. It's only 7 hours away, just enough time to get there before dark if we go now."  
  
"Fiona, you're a genius!" Thomas said proudly, sucking up to her. "Let's get going then!"  
  
"Skip. Lunch."  
  
***************************************************  
  
The journey to Chrono Town was a quiet one, punctuated by the steady metallic sounds of the Zoids as they walked. Basking in the sun, Haku, Joey, and Zeke were all perched on top of their master's respective Zoids.  
  
Van yawned for about the thousandth time, and slumped over the controls of the Blade Liger, trying to ignore the growls of his stomach.  
  
"Krueger better pay me double for this." Kari muttered darkly over the intercom.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Lapis whined dismally.  
  
"Almost." Fiona said reassuringly, typing away on the rear control facing at her seat. "There!" she exclaimed, pointing to a slab of dark mass at the end of the horizon. "Chrono Town!"  
  
Immediately everyone was at attention, and peering in the direction of Fiona's pointing, cheering in happiness.  
  
"Last one there's a rotten egg!!" Kari grinned wolfishly, her Ice Blazer beginning a sprint before she had finished.  
  
"You're on!" Van accepted the challenge willingly, mobilizing the thruster things [lol] on his Blade Liger and gathering speed.  
  
Lapis's Zoid pulled in between them, gliding along the ground like a ghost. "You guys don't stand a chance against Remix!!" she laughed, and zoomed past them.  
  
"Hey!" Thomas called after them, pushing Beek to go as fast as it could go, "Don't leave me behind!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Wild: Ya, that DID take longer than it needed to.-_-;;; Oh well, at least we updated. Leave a review of Xero will squish you~ :D 


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